Accenture, Leading Banks, Venture Capital Companies Launch FinTech Innovation Lab London with Support from The Mayor of London, City of London Corporation and Technology Strategy Board

Press release:

September 24, 2012

Accenture, Leading Banks, Venture Capital Companies Launch

FinTech Innovation Lab London with Support from The Mayor of London, City of London Corporation and Technology Strategy Board

 

Programme aims to foster technology innovation in financial services and attract entrepreneurs to London

 

LONDON; Sept. 24, 2012 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN), leading banks and venture capital companies are today launching the FinTech Innovation Lab London to help accelerate the development of cutting-edge technology for commercial application in the financial services industry. The programme is supported by the Mayor of London, the City of London Corporation and the Technology Strategy Board.

 

The FinTech Innovation Lab London is designed to help accelerate the development of cutting-edge technology for commercial application in the financial services industry. It will identify technology entrepreneurs through a competitive process and then give them the opportunity to develop, test and fine-tune their innovations under the guidance and mentorship of top executives from some of the world’s leading financial institutions and members of the London investment community.

 

They include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Business Growth Fund, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Euclid Opportunities, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, RBS, UBS, UK Business Angels Association, and VocaLink, the UK national payments infrastructure provider, and other leading institutions. The Lab is modelled on a similar programme in New York, which has already proved highly successful in helping a dozen young financial technology start-ups.

 

The FinTech Innovation Lab London was founded to help foster technology innovation in the financial sector and promote economic development and job growth in London.

 

Richard Lumb, Group Chief Executive-Financial Services at Accenture, said: “This programme can make a big difference to the commercial success of new technologies by bringing innovators and entrepreneurs together with their potential customers. This is important to this country, where we have brilliant innovators who are striving for commercial success.”

 

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “London is the world's number one financial centre and a global leader in technology innovation, which is why the FinTech quest for entrepreneurs is such an exciting proposition. The project has huge potential to help spur jobs and growth and I'm sure will attract some very bright minds whose inventions could help to revolutionise the financial services of this great city.”

 

Antony Jenkins, Barclays Group Chief Executive, said: “Technology is an integral part of people’s day to day lives. The businesses that flourish in the future will be those that capitalise on the huge potential of new technologies to make their customers’ lives easier.  The FinTech Innovation Lab London is a great step forward that will enable entrepreneurs to develop new ideas and cement London’s position as a global leader in financial services and technology innovation.”

 

The FinTech Innovation Lab London

The FinTech Innovation Lab London is open to early- and growth-stage companies that are developing cutting-edge technologies for the financial services sector – particularly in the areas of mobile, data management, analytics, security, and social media. Applicants are invited to apply to participate in the Lab through November 1 at www.fintechinnovationlablondon.co.uk.

 

• Chief technology officers and senior technology executives from the financial institutions will select six entrepreneurs to participate in the Lab through a competitive process. To be accepted, applicants must have at least a beta version of their technology available, and demonstrate that access to senior-level executives at financial services firms would have a meaningful impact on the company’s growth prospects. Lab participants from outside London are required to relocate to the city during the programme and are provided workspace.
• The Lab consists of a twelve-week programme, in which participants are partnered with senior-level bank executives and successful technology entrepreneurs who will help them fine-tune and develop their technologies and business strategies through a series of workshops, panel discussions, user-group sessions, networking opportunities, one-on-one meetings and presentations.
• It culminates with an Investor Day presentation by all six participants in front of an audience of venture capitalists and financial industry executives.

 

The Lab is a new collaboration between Accenture, the Mayor of London, the City of London Corporation and the Technology Strategy Board, supported by the London banking and investor community. Modelled on a similar programme that was co-founded by the New York City Investment Fund and Accenture in New York two years ago, it seeks to promote technology innovation in the financial sector by exposing the world’s best and brightest start-ups to the direct mentorship of top-level financial executives and by providing banks with a new venue to stay in front of and help shape major technology innovations in their field.

 

The programme is designed to support job creation and economic growth in London by boosting one of the city’s leading industries and by attracting technology start-ups to operate in direct proximity to one of the world’s largest financial centers.

 

Proven Accelerator

The FinTech Innovation Lab in New York has already helped a dozen early- and growth-stage technology entrepreneurs accelerate product development and gain rare access to top-level executives at the world’s leading financial institutions. More than 30 leading bank CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, venture capitalists and technology luminaries have provided the entrepreneurs with mentorship and business development opportunities; and the most recent Lab has led to 20 deployed and pending proofs-of-concept.

 

“In just the first two years of the New York FinTech Innovation Lab, participating companies have attracted significant capital, generated traction with their customers, and expanded their local operations and employee base,” said Maria Gotsch, president and CEO of the New York City Investment Fund. “Though New York City and London are already premier financial capitals, programmes like this will keep both cities as centers of innovation in a global economy that is consistently becoming more competitive.”

 

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 249,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.  Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.  The company generated net revenues of US $25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.  Its home page is www.accenture.com.

 

About Technology Strategy Board

The Technology Strategy Board is the UK’s innovation agency.  Its goal is to accelerate economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation.  Sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Technology Strategy Board brings together business, research and the public sector, supporting and accelerating the development of innovative products and services to meet market needs, tackle major societal challenges and help build the future economy. For more information please visitwww.innovateuk.org.

 

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